Cluster Bombs for the Ukrainian Misadventure: America Moves Closer to Open War With Russia

Last week, President Biden announced his decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Not so long ago, his administration said that the use of cluster bombs was possibly a war crime. Indeed, more than 100 nations--including France, Germany, and Great Britain--have signed a treaty banning cluster munitions in warfare.

Ukraine's war with the Russians is not going well, however, and the American military says it is necessary to send these heinous killing devices to the Ukrainians.

Why?  Because it is expedient.

The United States is running out of the conventional artillery shells that the Ukrainians are currently using against the Russians. The American military says it won’t be able to meet Ukraine’s demands for conventional artillery ammunition until next spring. However, the US has a stockpile of cluster munitions which it can deliver right away.

Jake Sullivan, the administration's apologist on military matters, says that cluster weapons are justified in order to efficiently kill more Russians, who are deeply entrenched along the battlefront. Also, Sullivan maintains, the Ukrainians will be using these weapons in their own country, and its army will be especially careful not to endanger the lives of civilians.

What does this development tell us about the conflict in Ukraine? First, the United States has reconciled itself to the fact that Ukraine’s war with Russia will be a long war, probably lasting years.

Second, the decision to give an internationally condemned weapon to the Ukrainians is a sign that Ukraine cannot win this war using conventional weapons.

I am opposed to sending cluster bombs to Ukraine. This reckless move brings the United States one step closer to to open war with Russia. In fact, Russia may use America’s escalation as an excuse to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

There was a time when America’s involvement in Ukraine’s war would have been opposed by liberal-minded Americans. When the US was prosecuting a futile war in Vietnam, it faced growing opposition on college campuses, which culminated in the shutdown of most American colleges in the spring of 1970.

Today, college students obsess on transgender rights and gender neutral bathrooms. They are too distracted by trivial matters to ponder the moral implications of America’s involvement in the biggest European military conflict since the Second World War.